Monday, September 07, 2009

Ok. I'm rested and refreshed and ready to tackle the next 25 on this list of metal albums blessed by the gods of Olympus. Let's do it.

50. PARADISE LOST - "Icon" Melodic thrash stuff. I reeeally tried to like this group. Musically it's not as good as Opeth and his vocals fall short on both clean and cookie monster for me.

49. WHITESNAKE - "1987" Odd. I didn't realize they had a album titled this. If it's the self titled album from that year.....it's not metal. Whitesnake is and has always been hard rock.Period.

48. ANATHEMA - "Alternative 4" I should probably check these guy out since they're compared to Katatonia. Speaking of. Where is Katatonia on this list. Come on Greece.

47. NEVERMORE - "Dead Heart in a Dead World" Cool. More Nevermore goodness though I wish their albums would be ranked higher on overseas polls. They're starting to really hit the underrated territory.

46. ACCEPT - "Restless and Wild" Interesting this album ranks higher then "Balls". It's good though for old school straight up metal.

45. PANTERA - "Cowboys From Hell" Classic stuff. This was a transition album that got people noticing.Pantera was getting away from the spandex and hairspray crap into thrash. A bit of both on this album.

44. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Diary of a Madman" Ozzy makes a appearance here solo finally. Ah the good old days when he was stoned, drunk and out of his fucking mind. I like this album better then Blizzard.

43. SLAYER - "Seasons in the Abyss" My favorite Slayer album. Songs like Skeletons of Society is the kind of thrash I like. Mid tempo with cool riffs and vocal phrasing instead of just constant shouting like on later releases.

42. CANDLEMASS - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" Wake me up when we get to 41.

40. JUDAS PRIEST - "Sad Wings of Destiny" Whoa back to back entries.Some classic tracks that get covered on in here like "the Ripper" and "Victim of Changes".This was when they were more prog then anything else and trying to find their identity. They're still looking.

39. SEPULTURA - "Arise" this got the boys from Brazil noticed and my second favorite album by them. Good guttural chugging thrash here.

38. OPETH - "Blackwater Park" Nice...Opeth finally makes it on here. Interesting that this is ranked above some serious classics. Mikael had finally started refining his grunts where they were more coherent. And music structures were getting more complex if that's possible for Opeth.

37. SAVATAGE - "Gutter Ballet" Great album. This pretty much set the tone for how 'Tage would be for the rest of their careers. Prog and power metal mixed but done well.

36. SYSTEM OF A DOWN - "Toxicity" Some nu metal besides Slipknot finally on here. Though their sound is more hardcore and punk influenced. Saw them once live and they were nuts.

35. EXODUS - "Bonded by Blood" Classic but I don't like it. Nice to see some other Bay area pioneers on here.

34. DEEP PURPLE - "In Rock" Influential but nowhere nears as popular as some of their peer's albums. I don't think there is a track from this album that gets radio play. At least here in the states. Odd that this is so high up.

33. DREAM THEATER - "Images and Words" DT's best selling album. Dropped right at the end of metal's existance on old MTV. Such a kick ass album.

32. HELLOWEEN - "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II" Classic and must be more popular here then back at home. Otherwise I can't see why it ranks so high.

31. IRON MAIDEN - "Iron Maiden" Intro to Maiden with Paul Di'anno on vocals. I couldn't get into it because Di'anno was such a shitty vocalist.

30. RAINBOW - "Rising" Wow the Greeks are all over the map in what they like. Some of these albums are all but forgotten over here but they get top 30's there. Classic Dio stuff.

29. IRON MAIDEN - "Somewhere in Time" One of the best albums by them. Back when they had the power to write concept albums in one song.

28. IRON MAIDEN - "Piece of Mind" Double duty and a crap load of Maiden in this batch. This album is awesome except for the track Quest for Fire. God that song sucks.

27. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Blizzard of Ozz" Surprised that this doesn't rank higher but then again I shouldn't be. The Greeks are a bit bizzare I think.

26. MANOWAR - "Hail to England" The power these dudes hold in foreign countries is truly amazing. Especially since they're from the Bronx.

Ok. This is more work then I thought. But we're almost done. Check back later for the top 25 drunk on Ouzo selections by these wacky Gracians.